Union Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman chaired a review meeting of regional rural banks in the northern region in New Delhi today.
During the review meeting, the Union Finance Minister emphasized on upgrading the digital capabilities of RRBs and directed the Managing Director and CEO of Punjab National Bank (PNB) to ensure that all RRBs with PNB acquire the digital onboarding capability by 1st November 2023.
Finance Minister Smt. Sitharaman urged RRBs to undertake removal of duplication of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts and facilitate storage facility for apple farmers, especially in J&K and Himachal Pradesh.
The Union Finance Minister further said that banks should map RRBs with MSME clusters and give more thrust to increase rural branch network in cluster areas identified by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
Finance Minister Smt. Sitharaman further highlighted the growing penetration under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) and financial inclusion and said there is a need to prepare a roadmap to complete the designated activities in a time-bound manner.
Secretary, Department of Financial Services (DFS), Additional Secretary, other senior officials of DFS, representatives of RBI, respective state governments, NABARD, sponsoring banks and RRBs were also present in the meeting.
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NB/VM/KMN
